Fabric drawoff means for textile machines



Oct. 26, 1943. H, PRlNTZ FABRIC DRAW-OFF MEANS FOR TEXTILE MACHINESFiled Jan. 22, 1942 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ElE- l .0 i5 f Z2 Ill/I1 0 E 4INVENTORZ flenzp flfini BY g I 5 ATTOR Y Oct. 26, 1943. PR|NTZ 2,333,074

FABRIC DRAW-OFF MEANS FOR TEXTILE MACHINES Filed Jan. 22, 1942 2Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORI Patented Oct. 26, 1943 Prints, Beading, Pa.,assignor to Textile Machine Works, Wyomissing, Pa., a corpora tion ofPennsylvania Application January 22, 1342, Serial No. 427,716

' 2 Claims. (01. 66-149) This invention relates to the fabric draw-oilmeans of textile machines, and more particularly to means of this typeassociated with straight or full-fashioned knitting machines, to tensionand take up the fabric as it comes from the needles.

i "Ihe use of hooks to connect the fabric engaging elements, or weltrods, to the fabric drawoff means of straight or full-fashioned .hosieryknitting machines, is well known, and although little or no trouble isordinarily experienced in the utilization of such hooks on standardmachines, it has been found that they are unsatisfactory when used onmachines equipped with certain welt fabric draw-oi! mechanismshereinafter referred to. A dimculty experienced in this connection is,that the usual hooks cannot be employed as ordinarily and when utilizedin different manner become accidentally disengaged from the welt rod,for example, when the fabric is wound on the take-up reel. Thisdifliculty makes the fabric draw-off means unreliable and ineifective.

It is an object of my invention to provide novel fabric draw-on meansfor textile machines, such as straight or full-fashioned knittingmachines, which overcomes the mentioned and other difnculties.

Another object is to associate with such means a device which is adaptedto connect the draw-oi! means with the fabric engaging element by adownward engaging movement, and which device is provided with meanswhich will prevent it from becoming accidentally disconnected.

A further object is to associate with such means a device in the form ofa spring-hook or snap-hook arrangement which .will facilitate connectionof the draw-oil means with the fabric eng in element, under conditionswhere the present devices cannot be satisfactorily ems wd- Anotherobject is to provide such means in which the fabric engaging element andthe actusting means therefor are connected by a device having a latchoperable by said fabric engaging I element. l

with these and other objects in view, which will become apparent fromthe following detailed description of the illustrative embodiment oi myinvention shown in the accompanying In the drawings: I Figure 1-isacross-sectional view ofa part of a single knitting section of amulti-section full-fashioned knitting machine having my inventionapplied thereto; i

rm. 2 is a top view of the mechanism of Iig. 3-is an enlarged top viewof the welt rod connecting device which forms vention:

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken substantially along the line 4-.4 ofFig. 3; r

Fig. 5 is a bottom view of the said welt rod connecting device;-

Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken substantiallyalong the iine 8-8 of Fig.2, drawn to substantially full scale and showing parts "of severalsections knitting; and

Fig. 7 is a full size cross-sectional view of the fabric take-up rollermechanism of Figs. 1 and 2,

and fllustrates my device in the position which it occupies when thestrap is wound upon said roller. 3

In the drawings and description, only those parts of a knitting machinenecessary to a complete understanding of the invention, are presented;further information as to the construction and operation of otherrelated, usual and well known knitting elements, mechanisms, etc, may befound in one or more of the following publications:

1. Pamphlet entitled-Full-Fashioned Knit- 3. Booklet entitledThe"Readlng rush Pros duction Full-Fashioned Knitting Machine which forms asupplement to the above notecl 1940 Parts Catalog of the Textile MachineWorks, and which booklet is a publication of the Textile Machine Works,and was copyrighted by the latter in 1940.

4. Pamphlet entitled-Knitting Machine Lee tures-published by theWyomissing Polytechnic Institute, Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, in 1935.

Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings disclose certain well known elementspresent in each section of a straight, or full-fashioned "leggerknitting machine, which cooperate to produce the knitted lib fabric,such as the bank of needles Ill, sinkerpart of my, in-

head unit ll, sinkers and dividers l2, and knockover bits I3. I 7

It is the practice, when knitting full-fashioned leg blanks on such amachine, to first produce a certain length of welt fabric on each needlebank, which fabric is drawn from the needles.

by a welt bar H, hooks ii of which engage'the loops of the first courseknitted; the welt bar' l4 being attached to a welt bar band or strap I6which is operated by weight or spring means (not shown) to move the weltbar I on supports 7 or bridges II, in turn secured to front machine bedor table l8 as by screws I9. These welt fabrics are then folded, and theloops of the first course of each welt fabric are transferred from thewelt hooks 15, of the Well: bar H, to the needles J0, in well knownmanner.

After the welt portion of each blank has been I 3 formed, a welt, orfabric draw-oil rod 20, is

inserted between the foldsof each welt portion, and the ends of eachwelt rod protruding beyond the side edges of the fabric are placed onsuitable supports provided therefor. Two bands or straps 22, of theusual fabric tensioning means. are then connected to therod 20,intermediate each side edge of the welt fabric and the supported ends ofthe rod, which straps are connected to a reel 23, having rotary fabrictake-up movement imparted to it in well known manner by spring or weightmeans, not shown.

In connection with the operation of standard legger machines, the weltbars ll are individually and manually operated in each knitting sectionof the machine, and in such instances, the welt bars I 4, and the weltrods 20, are usually'supported, and moved along theupper surfaces of thebridges l1.

More recently, a certain type semi-automatic welt mechanism has beenmade available to simultaneouslymove all the welt bars H into operativeposition to' receive the loops of the first course of loops formed oneach needle bank. One such ,mechanism comprises a shaft 24, journalledin bearings 25, on the front bed or table ll of the machine; thereto aseries of arms orlevers 26 pivotally connected to links 21. The links 21carry studs or travellers 23 at their free .ends in contact with wear,plates 29 secured to the welt bars I, which in turnare moved by means ofdraw-oft bands or straps IS in a direction away from the sinker-head H,as previously indicated. The travellers are guided along the rails orbridges H, by members 30, the ends of which are slidably engaged ingrooves or channels 32, (see Figs. 2 and6).

At the proper time, the shaft 24 is turned in The shaft 24 has securedcounterclockwise direction from the position of Fig. l, and this motionis transmitted through the arms 36, links 2! and'travellers 28, to thewelt bars ll of the machine which are thereby simultaneously movedtowards the needles, along the top surface of the bridges l1, untilstopped by pins 33, fastened to bridges l I. With the welt arms 36. Thetake-up reels 23 are rotated in clockwise direction (Fig. 1) by usualmeans, to apply tensioning and draw-ofi action to the fabric as it isbeing knitted, and oscillation of the presser shaft 35 also moves thedraw-off reels 23 toward and from the sinker-head I I, in timed relationwith the needles. l0, thereby to maintain afixed distance between'theneedles and the reels at all times, all in accordance with the usualpractice.

When a legger machine is provided with semiautomatic welt mechanism ofthe type referred to, the welt bars H are, after operation thereof,retained in inactive position on the bridges, against the studs 28 whichrest against stop pieces 31. However, the inactive positioning ,of thesebars on the top surfaces of the bridges II interferes with the use ofthese surfaces to also support and guide the welt rods 20. To avoid suchinterference, the bridges I! are provided with grooved guide channels38, forsilpporting.

and guiding ,theends of the wen rods "20. With this arrangement, thefabric ofeach knitting section engaged by a welt rod 20, is,accordingly, moved in a plane intermediate the front bed-or table ll ofthe machine, and the weltbarfl,

when being drawn from the knitting elements, toward the reel 23.

When the welt rods 20 are moved in a plane in;

termediate the top surfaces of the bridges l1 and the front bed l8, asin conjunction with the draw-01f means employed with semi-automatic.welt mechanism referred to, it becomes difficult or even impracticableto engage'the usual open ended hooks of the draw-ofl bands or straps22-with the welt rods 20, from beneath, inaccord-l ance with the practicecarried out in connection with standard machines. This is due to thefact.

that the welt fabric is usually of such length that when turned orfolded the bight portion thereof is directly over one or the other ofthe raised wall portions of the table l8, as shown in Fig. 1.

The limited space between the welt rod 20 and the table l8 thereforemakes it difficult to engage the hooks from beneath, in accordance withthe usual practice. If, on the other hand, such open ating mechanism ofmy invention is provided with novel connecting means designed to permitquick and easy connection of the draw-oifstraps 22, to the welt rods 20,from aboveyand to pre-.

vent accidental disengagement of. these parts at all times. f

Figs. .3, 4 and 5, disclose one embodiment of my novel connecting meansin the form of a device 40, comprising an element, or welt rod'receiving hook portion 40, a. spring latch or automatic hook closuremeans in the form of a leaf spring member 40b, which is arranged toprevent accidental disengagement of the welt rod 20 from the hookportion 40a, and a part 400 adapted to be engaged with the loopformed atthe end of a fabric drawoif strap 22. The part 40b is fastened to themain body portion of the connecting device 40, in any practical manner,as by two rivets 40d which fixedly secure the widened end of the springmember 407) to one side of the device 40 in such manner that the freeend thereof has spring action in biased engagement with the hook portion40a, as shown in Fig. 4. By pressing the device 40 down on a welt rod 20in such manner that the rod contacts the spring member 40b adjacent thehook part 40a, the member 40b will readily recede to an extentpermitting the rod to be engaged in the hook portion 40a. After the rod20 passes beyond the free end of the spring member 40b, during movementof the rod to the position in the hook portion 40a, as illustrated inFig. 1, the free end of the member 40b will automatically spring back toits initial position against the inside of the hook portion 40a, asclearly illustrated in Fig. 4. To release the rod 20, it is merelynecessary to manually depress the spring member 4012 to an extentpermitting the rod to pass between the member 40b and free end of thehook portion 40a. When the welt fabric and the rod 20 are wound on thereel from above, but the fabric take-up and tensioning means cannotbecome accidentally disengaged from the rods at any time.

Of course, my improved fabric take-up and tensioning means can bechanged and modified in various ways without departing from theinvention herein disclosed and hereinafter claimed.

I claim:

1. In a textile machine, the combination with a frame, a fabric engagingelement, means arranged to actuate said element to draw of! the fabric,and guide means for said element arranged to confine the element to apath above a portion of said frame of self-locking means associated withsaid actuating means and arranged to be connected with the element by adownward engaging movement without interference with said frame portion.

2. In a textile machine, the combination with a frame, a rod forengaging the fabric, means arranged to actuate said rod to draw of! thefabric, and guide means for said rod comprising a pair of rails on saidframe and arranged to confine the rod to a path above a portion orportions of said frame of a self-locking rod engaging means arranged tobe connected to said rod by a downward engaging movement withoutinterference with said frame.

HENRY PRINTZ.

